Gender Issues

Malini and Arjun were planning his 8th birthday party when Arjun suddenly observed, "Amma, time is going by so fast!" Coming from Arjun, this was not an entirely surprising comment - he tends to be somewhat preternaturally inclined towards such thoughts. Not wanting to miss out on a teachable moment, Malini quickly followed up with, "Yes Arjun, soon both of you will be all grown up and have to deal with all kinds of responsibilities."  Abhi - who just turned 5 and is an expert on all matters - chimed in, "And you will have to go to work like Acha." And then without missing a beat he continued, "Unless you are a girl - then you can sit at home and relax."

Fast forward to the weekend and we are having bagels for breakfast - I was doing the toasting and serving and Malini (ever hopeful) comments to the boys, "Acha is going to take care of all the food this weekend."  Arjun had no comment, but Abhi was having none of it: "What, we are going to have omelet for dinner? That's all Acha knows to make!"

I tried explaining that before he was born Malini used to work in an office just like me and that I used to cook regularly while in school, but I could see that my audience was highly skeptical. He knew what our respective roles were and that was that.

"The Worst Journey In The World"

Antartica can safely lay claim to being the most inhospitable continent, with temperatures falling as low as -115F in Winter. But for much of the 19th century it continued to attract a number of sea faring explorers - because it housed a coveted prize in exploration: the South Pole. On January 17, 1912 the British navy captain, Robert Scott and his 4-man team reached the South Pole. However, they were not the first to get there - that distinction belonged to Roald Amundsen and his Norwegian team: they had beaten Scott to the Pole by 33 days. But, for the better part of the last 100 years, it has been Scott who has been celebrated as a hero while Amundsen has been largely forgotten outside his native Norway.  Behind this apparent contradiction is a very simple human truth: People glorify a noble failure far more than a (seemingly) facile success. You see, Scott and his team did not make it back alive: the last three members of the team perished on March 19, 1912 after being trapped in a blizzard and unable to get to their next depot of food and fuel - a mere 11 miles away.  The circumstances of their death and the stoicism with which they faced the inevitable (as inferred from the diaries they left behind) dove tailed perfectly with the British ideal of the heroic amateur explorer, who would accept any hardship and sacrifice for his comrades and his country and Scott became an instant hero around the world.

It took me a while, but I eventually got through the 600 page tome, "The Worst Journey In The World," by Aspley Cherry-Garrard.  The book describes Scott's second Antartic expedition (also called the Terra Nova Expedition after the name of his supply ship) which was from 1910 to 1913. Cherry-Garrard was the youngest member of the expedition - just 20 years old when he set out and with no real qualfications for being on the expedition. In fact, he is almost ruled out for medical reasons - he was severely short-sighted and needed thick glasses to see anything. Agreeing to go on the planned 'Winter Journey' (see later) is what gets him on the team. However, by sheer hard work and a good attitude he becomes a valued member of the team.  After years of answering questions about what happened during the trip, Cherry-Garrard gave in and wrote his masterpiece (the only book he would ever write) and it was published in 1922.  Almost 90 years later it continues to attract new readers and stir the imagination of almost everybody who reads it. Pretty remarkable for a book that devotes long sections to scientific observation about the local flora and fauna and is filled with archaic turns of phrase and lots of jargon - both nautical and geographical.

Attempting to summarize the trip here is hardly possible - I highly recommend the Wikipedia entry about the Terra Nova expedition for that - it is well written and thoroughly annotated. However, it helps know the broad outlines: At the dawn of the 20th century, both the Poles were as yet unconquered despite several fierce attempts to do so. Admiral Peary of the US would claim to the North Pole in 1909 (a claim that is largely discounted today), but the South Pole was still up for grabs when Scott and his team departed from England in mid-1910. The plan was to get to Antartica in early Summer (remember that Summer in the southern hemisphere is from Dec-March) and establish camp. They would then spend the rest of the Summer and early Fall laying depots (stores of food and fuel) along the chosen route to the Pole that they would depend on for the assault on the Pole the following (1911) Summer. They would wait out the intervening winter months (June-Aug of 1911) at their base camp (in a place called 'Cape Evans').  Antartica is barely hospitable in Summer, it has near impossible conditions in Winter - super low temperatures, howling blizzards, and of course no sunlight - and nobody had ever contemplated any kind of travel during those months. Until this expedition.

Camping in a Blizzard (sketch by Wilson)

On 27th June, 1911 - in the dead of the Antartica winter - 3 men headed out  to Cape Crozier, which was 60 miles from Cape Evans, on the eastern edge of Ross Island. The three men were Dr. Wilson (the leader), Bowers, and our author, Aspley Cherry-Garrard. The goal was to visit a rookery of the Emperor Penguin in order to collect some eggs which are laid in the middle of Winter.  Wilson (a zoologist) had a theory that examining the egg of an Emperor penguin (considered a primitive bird) would yeild clues about some missing evolutionary links. This was a most horrific journey - they really didn't know what to expect and things turned out far worse than anybody imagined. It was often pitch dark (they held up a candle to see each other and their way) and bitterly cold - temperatures were almost always around the -60s and one day dropped all the way to -79F. It was so cold that their clothes would freeze into boards within seconds of coming out of their tent and in the night they lay shaking in their sleeping bags, as Cherry-Garrard writes, "..until our backs would almost break." During the day their perspiration and breath would instantly freeze into ice and during the night their sleeping bag would be soaking wet as all this ice melted. They were "man-hauling", which means that they were pulling a sled with their supplies. And in their case, it was actually 2 sleds carrying almost 800 lbs of stuff. The surface condidtions were often very rough - sometimes almost sand-like because of the extremely low humidity.  Many days they covered a little over a mile after 10 hours of pulling and it took them 19 days to cover the 60 miles. Things only get worse after they reach Cape Crozier, but somehow they survive and actually return with 3 penguin eggs.
This trip is in fact the "worst journey" of the title of the book (and not the subsequent Polar Journey during which Scott and his team perish).  You know that the three men survived this trip, but you can scarcely believe it as you read page after page of the terrible conditions and deteriorating health of the travelers in Cherry-Garrard's matter-of-fact prose.  In fact, they come close to death many times but somehow pull through. Rather than discounting from the impact, the almost lack of poetry or overwrought text gives the telling a weight that is hard to shake off. The sheer accretion of detail - there is a detailed accounting of almost every single day of the 6-week journey - gives you sense of being immersed in the journey yourself and it is easy to envision yourself in the middle of a vast icy expanse - damp, cold, and miserable in the dark. Although you are well aware of it by now, you can't help but be moved when Cherry-Garrard says, almost in passing, that his two companions, Bowers and Wilson, survived the "worst journey in the world" only to die a few months later during the ostensibly well-planned Polar Journey.

Map of the Polar Journey

Cherry-Garrard gives much the same thorough treatment to the rest of the expedition and of course the starring role is occupied by the actual assault on the Pole and the subsequent discovery of the remains of the 5-man Pole party. The difficulty of going to the Pole and back is hard to exaggerate - they had to cover 1712 miles, almost entirely on foot and often pulling a sled laden with their gear and food.  They set out on November 1, 1911 and for most of the next 5 months they walked and man-hauled for 10-15 miles, every single day (except when trapped by blizzards).

Much ink has been expended on debating how the Pole party could have survived, but three points are particularly poignant. The first: Scott's decision to lay the final depot almost 30 miles north of where he originally planned to (in other words, they would have reached this depot almost 20 miles before the point at which they died) and second, his decision increase the size of the Pole party to 5 when all calculations about food and fuel had been made with a 4-man team in mind. The third one is something that would haunt the author, Cherry-Garrard to his dying day:  In early March 1911, he was given the charge to re-supply the 'One Ton Depot' and possibly help the returning Pole party who were expected to be at that depot by then.  However, he does not find them there and he has to decide between going further south (till his food ran out) or waiting at the depot. Since he has no navigation experience and indeed no real way to ensure that he would cross paths with them, he stays put at the depot and eventually returns to base camp. What he didn't know was that Scott, Wilson, and Bowers - the last surviving members of the 5-man Pole party - were just 70 miles south of the depot, slowly dying from fatigue, illness, and most crucially, a lack of food and fuel.  This knowledge, gained from their diaries 8 months later would be Cherry-Garrard's lasting regret - the dilemna of the path not taken - could he have rescued them if he had headed further South?

Bravery in the face of adversity is commendable, but is also in part the survival instinct. Willingly taking on a near impossible task with mortal danger almost inevitable, merely because one believes that it must be done - this is what heroes are made of.  What would drive these otherwise ordinary men to take on such extraordinary risks? This is what fascinates the rest of us - we, who go through our quotidian tasks treading over the same landscape that multitudes before us have and will continue to do so.  Perhaps this fascination explains why so many non-climbers aspire to reach the top of Mt Everest.  Indeed, there is an outfit that will allow you to re-live the Polar expedition, after a fashion: For $65,000 they will fly you to Antartica and you get to ski about 700 miles pulling a sled behind you. It will take you 3 months to get to the Pole, but unlike the Polar explorers of a century ago you don't have to ski back to the starting point - they fly you back.

Many, many, books have been written about the various Polar expeditions, but this is the one that most people think of. Why is this? Cherry-Garrard is not unskilled as a writer, but he is no Hemingway.  But what he lacks in skill, he more than makes up with the conviction of one who was there, of one who experienced and saw everything first-hand. This invests his text with an authenticity that no amount of careful wording or dramatic prose can evoke. It is a tough slog, but well worth the price of admission.

(Acknowledgment: The pictures on this blog are copied from the Gutenberg project from where you can download the book for free (link).)

The Peru Diary Part 5 (Dec 26-28)

Only two more days remained in our Peru trip and our last leg was a flight from Cusco to Peru on the 26th.  The flight was only around noon, but we didn't sleep in: Since we had missed the Cusco city tour due to my illness, Malini and I had arranged for a guide and driver (the same duo that took us around the Sacred Valley) to take us on a quick tour of the main sites in Cusco. Vinay and Sangeetha volunteered to watch the boys (who were only too happy to give another set of archaelogical sites a miss) and so we set out on our own around 7.30am.

Saqsaywaman

It was a pleasant morning for site seeing - it had rained during the night and the air was fresh and clean. Given the early hour, the sites were mostly devoid of other tourists. We started with the Inca site of Saqsaywaman - a large and historically important site that has a unique structure - 3 layers of zigzagged walls made of huge stones, some of them weighing hundreds of tons. The Incas believed in life being divided into three layers: the nether world (or the past) represented by the Snake, the earth (or the present) represented by the Puma, and the heavens (or the future) being represented by the Condor. The three layers of the Saqsaywaman complex are considered to represent those three facets.  Once we climbed to the top most layer, we were rewarded by some very nice views of Cusco, including all the main churches. We then hopped next door to the Q'enqo complex, which had an subterranean altar for ceremonies and (animal) sacrifices. We then drove to Tambomachay, which has the so-called "festival fountains." These are essentially artifical water falls that were created for the Inca royalty. The water continues to flow today through the ancient system of canals and channels and our guide held it up as an example of the advanced engineering skills of the Incas. Given that nobody else was around, our guide encouraged us to actually step upto the fountains and enjoy the water. It was cold and refreshing.  Our final stop that morning was at Puca Puccara, which served as a sort of watchtower and fortress along an important trade route. After this it was a quick dash back to our hotel, just in time to load up the van and head to the airport.

The flight to Lima was uneventful and as we stepped out of the airport, we were greeted by a blast of muggy air - we were at sea level again and right on the coast, to boot. For some reason, a number of us were fixated on McDonalds for lunch and we managed to find one just before reaching our hotel. We were booked in a place called 'Peru Star Apartments' and it had been a bit of an unknown.  Upon arrival, we were pleasantly surprised by the quality and spaciousness of our accommodations. We had a 2-room suite to ourselves and the Murthys and RD were sharing a 2-story townhouse. They were all part of a rather large building located in the embassy district of Lima. This meant that we had a heavy security presence all around and the streets were wide and clean.
A bit later we headed out on a short walk to a nearby grocery store. Lima is a modern city and at least that part of town was very remniscent of "old" Bangalore - the feeling was the same.  Unlike every other city we had been in, there was very little about Lima that reminded you of Peru, or at least our idea of Peru. The rest of the evening was spent just chatting and we ate dinner in the little outdoor restaurant that was part of our lodgings.

Front of Presidential Palace

The next morning - our last, full day in Peru - we headed out on a short city tour. Sangeetha wanted to chill and Bhavna and Pallavi stayed with her. We drove to the main part of the city and stopped outside the Presidential palace for the usual photo-ops. The main destination were the catacombs of the St Francis church, which were close by. These catacombs (absolutely no photography allowed anywhere inside) were the main burial ground for all people in Lima for many years and it is quite remarkable to walk through the narrow tunnels and rooms that are part of the foundation of the huge church. After we got out, we walked around a bit, unsure as to where to head next. RD tried to bargain for some shoes, but eventually gave up. After some back and forth, we decided on a museum that was along the route back to our hotel. However, when we got there it was closed and we decided to cut our losses and head back. Lunch was once again in our local cafe and the kids jumped into the pool for a bit.

Peru Star Apartments

In the evening, we all headed out for some shopping and for the much anticipated visit to an Indian restaurant. After the series of dining disasters (& the generally bland food), all of us had been day dreaming of Indian food, torturing ourselves with descriptions of the feasts we were going to partake of, back in San Diego. We headed to the upscale district of Mira Flores and it was a happening place. We stopped for some shopping and spent quite some time negotiating and eventually buying several wool (alpaca) items. Then it was time for dinner. We had no clue what to expect (this was just a place RD had found on the web), but we were in luck this time - it was a somewhat upscale place and it turned out to be the perfect setting for a farewell meal. We ordered lots of food and managed to finish almost everything. We all over ate - the food tasted so good! It was a happy memory on which to close out our last night in Peru.
The next morning we headed back to the airport for our flight to LA.  There was some confusion in the airport, but eventually it was all sorted out and we made our flight safely. After landing in LAX, we couldn't resist heading to Cerritos for another dose of Indian food - once again, we lucked out: We were looking for "Mumbai Ki Galiyon Se" and found it just before closing time. After some hesitation, they agreed to serve us and once again, we stuffed ourselves.

How will we recall this trip? There were certainly times when I was questioning our decision (or at least our particular itinerary), but at some point (as is the wont), we settled into a rhythm and began to appreciate and enjoy the sights and sounds of Peru.  It is a country with a distinct character of its own - historically, culturally, and scenically.  The people we met were uniformly friendly and pleasant.  A place well worth visiting.

The Peru Diary Part 4 (Dec 24-25)

The morning of Christmas eve found us boarding a train from Cusco to Machu Picchu. It had been raining, but beginning to clear up. The train traveled through some typically spectacular mountain scenery and in one section went through a series of clever switch-backs to descend into the valley.  Along the way, we saw hikers heading out on the Inca trail.  There are 4- and 2-day versions of the hike and in both cases, you arrive at the Sun gate of Machu Picchu just in time for sunrise. The train brings you to the town of Aguas Calientes after about 4 hours and we walked to our hotel ("Gringo Bills"). It was a nice place and the manager was an American settled in Peru. He ordered lunch for us and gave us suggestions about visiting Machu Picchu (MP).
We had to take a bus to the top and eventually reached there around 2pm. The whole morning (and apparently the previous day as well) had been overcast and rainy and folks had been putting off their visit to the top. However, we were in luck - soon after we reached the site the sun broke out and we had glorious light for our entire stay. A guide was waiting for us and we proceeded to walk around for almost 3 hours (the site closes at 5pm).  The guide was not the greatest (her English was a bit challenged), but she tried hard and we all enjoyed the tour (although the kids were flagging after a while - they are a bit young to appreciate history and archaeology).  MP was a sanctuary of the Incas - built in the mid 1400s and used for about a 100 years - but was never discovered by the Spanish invaders.  As a result, it remains a pristine example of Inca architecture and is designated a World Heritage Site by the UN. It is a beautiful setting - encircled by a deep valley (through which the Urubamba river flows), which is further surrounded by a ring of tall peaks.  To the north and south of the site are the two peaks - "Machu Picchu", or "Old Peak" and "Huayna Picchu" or "Young Peak." The peak that is seen in most MP photos is Huayna Picchu.
In the evening, we ended up in the local 'Govinda' for dinner.  There tended to a 'Govinda' restaurant in almost every city and while they were all vegetarian places, they are not part of a chain and were all quite different. The unifying theme was that they are all run by Peruvian Hare Krishnas. Being Christmas eve, kids were setting off fire crackers in the main square and we could hear them going off well into the night.

Ollantaytambo

The next morning, we took the train back towards Cusco, but got off midway at "Ollanta" or the Sacred Valley.  This is a fertile valley that is still a big producer of Peruvian corn (apparently prized around the world as the best variety of corn there is) and potatoes (they claim to have over 4000 varieties).  Along the journey, a QC-related debate broke out between RD and myself.  RD is always skeptical of anything that is less than hard-nosed (unless it involves Steve Jobs, of course), but this time I had an ally in Vinay, who being a relative new comer to our division was immune to being tagged a homer. At one point Malini went to sit in the row behind us so that she could stretch out a bit and the lady seated there commented to her, "This is the problem with men - they have to argue about everything. Why can't they just agree that they each have different view points and leave it at that?"  She went on to add, "See, even you couldn't take it anymore and had to change places to get away from it." To which Malini responded, "I didn't move because of that - I just wanted some more space." Earlier in the journey, RD had been sitting next to this lady and had seemingly struck up a good conversation.  At one point though, he came to our row and squeezed in with us and later on admitted that he had been driven away by the strong views expressed by her.
We had a guide and driver waiting for us at Ollanta station and we proceeded to visit a couple of Inca sites, with a stop for lunch in between.

We also drove through a large Christmas parade that featured lots of costumed groups. The sites we visited had all been decimated by the Spanish, but still retained enough of their original structures for us to get a feel for the place. It was raining in spurts, but overall we all enjoyed ourselves.  The evening found us in Cusco and we checked back into Corihuasi.  Dinner was in the Cusco 'Govinda', which was within walking distance and all of a sudden our trip was coming to an end.  Tomorrow we would head to Lima, which was going to be our final stop.

Cusco Plaza de Aramas, by night

The Peru Diary Part 3 (Dec 21-23)

Puno, which is on the 'altiplano' is considered the cradle of Inca civilization. 

Puno:Plaza de Aramas

The Incas (who are sun worshipers) believe that the Sun is born each day from Lake Titicaca and as such the lake has revered status amongst the Incas.  The lake is famous for being the 'highest navigable' lake in the world and this moniker derives largely from a couple of British-built ships that patrolled the waters for a while.  One of those ships, the Yavari, is now a floating museum that is docked next to our hotel.
One of the unique features of Lake Titicaca are the floating islands - these are islands made of blocks of reeds (that grow in the shallower sections of the lake) and populated by an indigenous tribe.  They actually do float and are made by hand by tying together blocks of live reeds.  Every couple of weeks a fresh layer of reeds has to laid on the surface to account for the settling of the lower layers.

Floating Island on Lake Titicaca

We had booked ourselves on a 3-hour trip to one group of the floating islands, but during the night, both Malini and Arjun came down sick. Upset tummies, fever, and even a little vomiting. So they stayed back and just Abhi and I went with the rest of the group. The visit was quite interesting, if somewhat uneventful.  While some level of modernity has reached the islands (they have solar panels now), life is still very hard and didn't seem to be particularly comfortable. But they continue to pursue it, if only because it is the only way they know how.

How the islands are built

In the afternoon, we paid a visit to the Yavari, and got a tour of the boat. Then it was time for another visit to town - picked up our laundry and bought some groceries. Malini and Arjun had spent most of the day resting and were recovering.  Overall, Puno and Lake Titicaca were a bit anti-climatic: After the rural charms of the Colca valley, the hustle and bustle of Puno were a bit of a shock. The portion of the lake that we saw was not that spectacular either.  However, to be fair what we saw and traveled over was just a small inlet of the lake and we did not venture into the main body of water.  Malini and Arjun not being well didn't help either.

The following morning, we left early and reached the train station by 7.15am. We were going to embark on a 10-hour journey to Cusco.  The fare was a bit pricey and had been the subject of much debate during the planning process.  However, it couldn't have come at a better time: after the painful 6-hour bus journey to Puno and with Malini and Arjun still recovering, a nice long train journey turned out to be the perfect thing. And this was some journey - it went through some of the most spectacular scenery and we spent more than half the time in the viewing carriage at the back of the train.

The train (called the 'Andean Explorer') itself was a sort of Orient Express of Peru and we had excellent service throughout. Everybody had a great time and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that for the first time we were all enjoying ourselves. Highly recommended.

We were picked up from the train station (after a minor delay) by our Cusco hotel guys and we arrived to find a rather interesting building. Its location couldn't be faulted (walking distance to the main square and some very nice views), but its internal layout was rather strange - to get to our rooms, we had to climb several sets of stairs - first up, then down and then up again.  The building was old, but rooms were decent enough.  We went out for dinner (had our first Indian tourist encounter in Peru), but returning was a challenge - getting back to the hotel required a hike up a steep hill, not to mention all the climbing that we had to do once we got to the hotel.

Courtyard of Hotel Corihuasi, Cusco

The next day we had arranged for a city tour, but in the middle of the night I woke up with some discomfort in my stomach and then proceeded to spend the next 3 hours either throwing up or on the toilet. By the morning things had settled down, but we decided to skip the tour (Murthys and RD went) and spent the day indoors. It wasn't too bad of a place to spend the day since there was a nice closed courtyard just outside that the boys could play in. I spent most of the day in bed and ate very little.
The next day we were planning to head to Machu Picchu - and I was just glad that I had recovered enough to make the trip.  After all, you don't want to spend 13 days in Peru and not visit Machu Picchu.

The Peru Diary Part 2 (Dec 18-20)

"Eat a light breakfast and drink some Coca tea" was the advice we got ahead of our drive to the Colca valley. The 4 hour drive was going to take us all the way from just under 8000ft to over 16,000 feet before we came back down to around 12,000 ft. Eat too much and you might barf. The plan was to head to the Colca valley for two nights and then drive from there to the city of Puno, which is on the banks of Lake Titicaca. It was a package deal - van, guide, driver, and accommodations. A Dutch family of three joined us for the entire time. The guide was a young chap by the name of Alex - Alex took his guide role very seriously and invested even the most mundane details with a great deal of solemnity. He spoke very deliberately and believed in repeating everything (especially plans) over and over again, but with an air of saying it for the very first time. The driver remained silent most of the time, but both guys were very friendly and made good traveling companions.

Soon after we headed out of town, Alex had us purchase coca leaves and made a big song and dance about the "right" way to chew them (mostly much ado about nothing).  Chewing the leaves was a mixed blessing (Sangeetha & Malini almost threw up, which would have been truly ironical since the leaves were supposed to fight nausea); there was another unfortunate side effect, which we didn't figure out till we got to Puno. We also stopped along the way for another drink of Coca tea. All of these measures were supposed to help us fight the effects of the high altitude.
As we went higher and higher, the landscape got distinctly lunar and it was spectacular - this was the high Andean desert - arid, but dotted with oasis where locals were grazing their livestock. We passed through a protected zone for Vicunas - the most prized breed of alpacas. They are only found in the wild and by regulation can only be caught a couple of times a year to be shorn.

Highest Altitude Point

About two-thirds the way into the ride we reached the highest point - 16,038 feet. We stepped out gingerly and walked about slowly in the stony landscape. There were the requisite souvenir stalls, but little else. The sun felt intense and breathing was labored. After a few minutes we had had enough and got back in.

We got to the Colca valley after about 4 hours of driving and a couple of miles of dirt track led us to our lodgings - Casa Mamayacchi in the little village of Coparaque. Thankfully it turned out to be pretty nice inside and we fell upon the buffet lunch like hungry wolves. It was all local Peruvian food - lots of fresh veges and barbecue chicken and alpaca. It was delicious - easily the best meal we had had till then. A short rest followed lunch and then most of us joined Alex for a hike into the mountains. It was a good hike - climbing at that altitude was a challenge, but the spectacular views and clean mountain air more than made up for it. Dinner was similar to lunch and we turned in for the early start the next morning.

Condor Sighting at the Cruz de la Condor

We were in the Colca valley to see the Colca Canyon, whose claim to fame was two-fold: at it deepest point, it is almost twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and it is home to condors, which is a revered symbol of the Incas. That morning, we were going to get to both: drive to a point on the edge of the Canyon called "Cruz de la Condor" where it was possible to sight condors in flight. The drive was a bit bone rattling, but views were great as usual. Upon arrival at the Cruz de la Condor, we found that it was rather crowded with a number of other tourists.

Colca Canyon

After a long wait, we finally saw one solitary condor take flight and that was about it. We then took a longish hike along the edge of the canyon and caught up with the tour bus at a later point.  We had a couple more condor sightings during the hike. The Colca Canyon was spectacular, but the depth was hardly as advertised. Turned out that the deepest point is much further and we were not going there.

We were famished by the time we made it to Chivay for our lunch - one look at the restaurant and my hopes sank. Sure enough, the buffet was as unappetizing as food could get and we suffered through it. Later on, we decided that this was the worst meal of the trip.  After a short rest in Mamayacchi, we headed out to the local hot springs. This was nothing like the snazzy Baldi hot springs that we visited in Costa Rica, but it only cost us $3 each.

The next day - Dec 20th, we started early for our six hour drive to Puno.  Once again we were going to climb to the high point (16,000+ feet), but once it started raining, the views changed quite dramatically. Unfortunately, Abhi got hit by motion sickness and photography was pretty much set aside. It was 6 hours with no food stops and we were rather glad to arrive in our Puno hotel, which promised to be the most modern of all the places we were staying in Peru.

In the evening we made a trip into town (our hotel was a bit outside), dropped off laundry, and got dinner. Puno is a bustling city with narrow streets on the banks of Lake Titicaca. While we were in town, we followed RD's lead in booking a trip to the floating islands on the lake. That was going to be the highlight of the following day.

The Dutch family also had come with us to Puno (but were staying in a different hotel). They were made up father, mother, and daughter (in her late 20s) and were in month 8 of a 12-month world-tour. They had already spent close to 4 weeks in Peru.

One thing that deserves mention is the extreme bloating that many of us got hit by. I first felt the rumblings during the drive to Colca valley and initially attributed it to the altitude. It however continued even after we had come down and upon inquiry, others also reported that they were terribly gassy.  We then decided that it was the Quinoa that was doing it and I promptly struck that off my menu. We were feeling better until I took a drink of Coca tea and sure enough, the gas was back and we had the true culprit. That was the last time I had anything to do with Coca leaves.

The Peru Diary - Part 1 (Dec 15-17)

Looking back, it is not exactly clear how Peru wound up being our December destination. Certainly there was an element of upping the ante after having gone to New Zealand and Costa Rica in 2009. For a while we considered a sort of meandering road trip through New Mexico, but it did not grip the imagination and always remained nebulous. And who hadn't heard of Machu Picchu - that famed lost city of the Incas, "re-discovered" in 1911 by the American historian with a suitably exotic name (Hiram Bingham)? Whatever be the cause, after much waffling, we settled on Peru and the planning was on. Much of the Costa Rica gang demurred and only the original planners - Murthy family, RD, & us were in the group.

As usual, we checked and rechecked the fares (no doubt causing flares to go up in airline circles that there was an impending rush to visit Peru in Dec) and finally when we pressed the buy button, only Vinay was able to actually get the tickets for our original planned date of Dec 16th. We couldn't leave him hanging, so we bit the bullet and bought tickets for a day earlier (Dec 15th). And then a weird coincidence - a few weeks before we were to leave, Vinay was told by the airline that the flight on the 16th was being canceled and that he had to leave either on the 15th or the 17th. And, so it came to pass that on the evening of Dec 15th the gang of nine was gathered in LAX airport for our non-stop, red eye flight to Lima, Peru.

The flight was fine and upon reaching Lima, the first blow fell - our flight to Arequipa (our first destination city) was delayed by over 4 hours. Lima airport is quite nice, but a 8 hour layover was a bit much. The airline gave us lunch coupons to make up, but we would have been better off without those - the place we had to go to was some fusion of Peruvian and Chinese cuisines and given that we had no clue about Peruvian food, we tried to stick to the Chinese side, with some rather unappetizing results. The best part of our meal was the bottled water. There was more confusion as the promised flight time got closer, but we did manage to get away and arrived in Arequipa around 5pm. And thankfully, the hotel guy was there to pick us up and RD got quite a thrill from seeing his name on a chalk board. (We were greeted by the view of 'El Misti'  on the right just after landing.)


As we drove from the airport, my first impressions of the city were not very positive. It looked like a dusty little town with lots and lots of construction going on. Traffic was chaotic and it was hard to tell why any tourist would come there. All of sudden we realized (prompted by Pallavi) that a Hindi song was playing on the car stereo and we asked the driver to bump up the volume - sure enough, it was Runa Laila belting out some disco hit from the past (I forget the song now). Our moods brightened somewhat.

After checking in we headed out of our hotel in search of dinner and given the long day we had had, we settled on trying a place called 'Lakshmivan' which promised vegetarian fare. The name, decor, and menu suggested that the food might even be mildly Indian-inspired. It was a disaster. Perhaps the second-worst meal in our entire trip. The soups were thick with starch and my "fried rice" dish was under cooked rice liberally garnished with the strongest smelling basil leaves I have encountered, all chopped into tiny pieces. It was near impossible to eat, but I was really hungry. So I picked each little piece out and chewed my way through most of it. We did pick up tasty mangoes on the way back and enjoyed them and another local fruit in our room.

Day 2 was going to be a city tour that we had arranged with our hotel guy - a friend of his was going to take us around. We asked - does he speak English? Well, not very well, but enough to guide you. And he knows all the spots. We were a bit skeptical, but the price was good, so we agreed. The morning dawned early (Dec is the start of Summer there) and it was a beautiful day. Breakfast had an assortment of grains that we had not seen before - our first encounter with Quinoa was here. We left with our new guide and soon it was apparent that he knew no English. We started with the central square or 'Plaza de Aramas' - every Peruvian city and town has one - and the source of Arequipa's moniker 'The White City' was immediately obvious.
Almost all the construction is from bricks made out of volcanic ash, which has an off-white shade. Arequipa is surrounded by a chain of active volcanoes and as a result the land is very fertile despite it being very arid - geologically, it is an extension of the Atacama desert (in Chile). Arequipans consider their city the 'second-most' important city in Peru (after Lima) and it is clear that it is a town on the make - trying to compete for the tourist dollar, that in Peru mostly goes to Cusco/Machu Picchu. We visited a couple of grand churches - another legacy of the Spanish - and checked out several views of lush valleys ringed by white tinted volcanic mountains.
Later we visited a museum which had a total of two small rooms, both of which could easily fit in the average San Diego apartment. The city was not without its charms, but it still felt a bit a of stretch to qualify as a major tourist attraction - especially all the way from California. In our eagerness to make most of it, we peppered our guide with questions about the history of the place. Getting through was easier said than done - we had to rely on RD to translate and for some reason the answer to every question seemed to involve the 1500s. Sure, that time period looms large in the Peruvian imagination given the Spanish victory over the Inca king in 1532, but after a while it began to strain credulity. The guy meant well - he knew a few words of English and he tried hard to convey his thoughts with them, but the mental strain of trying to follow him started to tell on me and I would wander off taking refuge in my photography. At one point Malini came to me and whispered, "What is he saying? I can't understand a thing!" I consoled her that I had given up a long time ago. The tour ended with a late lunch back at our hotel.

After a short rest, we headed out to the Santa Catalina monastery on foot. We got there with just an hour to go for closing, but that was sufficient for a conducted tour. This is a cloistered convent that was started in 1580 and even today has some nuns living there, although most of it is open to the public. One interesting feature (at least from a photographic perspective) were its intensely colored walls. One would expect a devout and solemn air about a monastery, but such was not the case. Most of the stories were about the class levels that existed even within a place supposedly given up to the service of God and how almost everything was about money, power, and prestige.

After the tour, RD went off for a 'carne' meal that he had read about, while the rest of did some looking around. Eventually, we found a French place and had some mildly reasonable food. And so ended our second day in Peru. We had an early start the next morning, for we were heading to the Colca Canyon for a two day stay.